Author: Tara Tona

I’m sitting here holding on to my enormous belly, thinking a stream of words running rapidly through my mind… I am 38 1/2 weeks pregnant, only 11 days until due date, I need to be ready, I am ready, I’m not ready, I’m so excited and so tired and everything hurts and I can’t bend over without grunting and squatting…

…unfinished piece I wrote last summer, when I traveled alone with my two daughters to stay in Bulgaria for 6 weeks with our family…. “I don’t know if it’s a real thing or not, but I recognize it as existing every time I travel anywhere new (or even not-so-new). It’s the feeling you get when you’re on vacation and under the spell of being released from your daily stressors and the repetition of routine. That feeling of wonderment at all of life around you– the buildings, cars, people, streets, food…

I have no idea half the time. No idea how to get there, how to make time work in my favor, how to be a really good mother, how to make money. How to stick to one thing until it’s “successful”, whatever in gods name that means. I don’t know when is the right time to speak up, or if speaking up is what is best for me and my family (b/c as a mother I’m pre-programmed for my concern to reach beyond myself, it’s unstoppable), or if writing is worth the time to do it. The less time you spend working on something the less quality you’ll reap from it, but the greater the honesty of that thing will be. What a trade-off. I don’t know when my mind will catch up to my calendrical age and start to think less emotionally and more like a calm Buddhist monk, something I desire like a child wants cheap plastic toys for Christmas. Or how to stop being dependent on sugar to make me feel just …

I’m sitting in a kitchen in a tiny old apartment in Sandanski, Bulgaria. It’s about 1:32 pm here, sunny and warm outside. My cousin-in-law is sitting on the bed next to me (beds in kitchens are occasionally a thing here, really cool), and we’re listening to retro 80’s music on my phone while working on our computers. I haven’t felt this relaxed in a long, long time. We came here a week ago, just me and my two girls. A special 6-week vacation to stay with my husband’s family (he is back at home, holding down the fort like a champion, making us all miss him awfully). It is also a chance for me to disconnect from all the maddening stress that had been stalking me for many months at home. The combination of being sick and having sick babies for weeks on end, since February, with barely a breather between each new illness, and my constant companion of allergies so fierce they make my brain feel like cooked squash, was wearing me …

Let us rally. Let us move onward together, let us UNITE. Let us be kindred spirits and let us be kind and decent and rational and move through this world with love in our hearts and on our tongues. And that includes embracing the man who is our new president. He is human too, as flawed as any of us…”

“For my entire adult life I have held back many of my deepest beliefs because I didn’t want to be the cause of a schism between me and my conservative extended family members….It has taken me over 30 years to learn that my voice matters, and that it is worth saying out loud.”

We are sharing episode #4 of our podcast today!! We recorded this episode in June, which feels like forever ago, but the content within is timeless and is sure to offer a pleasant respite from the mania of the current political news stream.

“Here it’s just us. You sitting on the sofa, I nestled in close beside your warm, tired body. Together we sit. There is no need for conversation in these moments, only the need to get just a little bit closer, to snuggle in a tiny bit more…”

“I’m afraid to let go of my work-life because I don’t want to fall behind… I don’t want to let it go. I want to be that super-mom who can keep running her business from home and stay on top of everything like a mythical goddess. But that ain’t gonna happen…”

“One of my former comics instructors recently said something eluding to being an artist and cartoonist is like being a vampire, it is always going to be a part of you. I have always been creative, any time I try to do anything else, writing, journalism, community organizing, teaching, my art always intersects with that work…

Creativity (noun): “The use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.”

Oh, it sounds so simple doesn’t it? The use of the imagination… there are no rules, no boundaries, no foundation, no precedent… So why is it, then, that many of us become so disengaged with creativity once we grow up?

Blahhhhhh. 11 Jan. 2016 I had expected to write something full of thrill and excitement and joy for this month’s theme, but then I never end up writing about what I think I’ll write about. This morning I suffered a minor emotional breakdown. Overwhelmed. To the max. Cried, hugged on my husband, and slowly started to feel better. Life is freaking hard to deal with sometimes, no? To be honest, I should have expected it. I had been so on my game the past few months. Full of energy and positivity, multitasking like a bandito, staying up late and waking up early and getting. it. done. But what I forgot is that at some point the great big Burnout will occur. It’s inevitable. In fact, it’s just simple math: Overwork + Lack of Sleep + Overstimulation in the form of Crazy-Whirlwind-Housecleaning/Reorganizing + Financial Stress = Emotional Meltdown waiting to happen. Add in a full dose of pregnancy hormones and whoooaaa buddy, look out. (Funny side note on those hormones… throughout this pregnancy (5 months thus …

For as long as I can remember, I have loved the days between Christmas and New Years a tiny bit more than any others. Even though Christmas Day is undoubtedly my absolute favorite day of the year (the family is gathered, baked-goods and gifts abound, a fragrant Spruce covered in twinkling lights and useless yet adorable baubles in the living room– what isn’t there to love?) Yet there is something almost magical about the handful of otherwise ordinary days post-25th. The excitement and jubilation of Christmas has passed, and with it go the stress and pressures which inevitably build up in the weeks preceding it. New Years is still on the horizon, plenty of time to make plans and clean up the general chaos that piles of gifts bring about. These precious days are almost like an extension of the year in a way, like you’ve been given a little extra time before the ball drops on the new year to relax, revel, and then get your act together. Today I scoured our bathroom. (Small house, …

I had a different Monday Menagerie planned for today, but after the news of the Paris attacks on Friday, I couldn’t think about anything else. So this little compilation is dedicated to the City of Light.

Judith Compton’s passion and years of experience in the fashion industry led her to create a line of meaningful, beautiful, and inspiring jewelry items. Her brand, Mala and Mantra, is a fusion of classic meditation beads and modern style– all gorgeously and thoughtfully put together by a talented group of women working in a fair-trade collective. When Jamie Bullock brought this brand to my attention, I had to learn more about it! Here, Judith shares her story with us.

E.P.* is a lady who I’ve known since we were in elementary school together. She possesses a truly radiant kindness and warmth, the type of person who instantly makes you feel comfortable around her. She also has one of the biggest and brightest smiles I’ve ever seen, and a joyously happy laughter to go with it. I’m so glad she allowed me to ask her some questions about her life and career as a pilot in the United States Air Force, and share them here on our blog. (*We are using only her initials because she is a member of the U.S. Air Force and requests that her name remain anonymous for this interview) Tell us a little about yourself and what work you do I’m a Florida girl, born and (mostly) raised. We moved overseas for a few years as a child, but always back to Florida. I joined the Air Force Reserve almost 2 years ago. Right now I am finishing up some training on the C130. It’s a pretty awesome, large cargo …

Women who WORK IT. There are way too many inspiring women out there to compile them all in one Menagerie, but this is an itty bitty selection of women who stood out to me this past week. Baddie Winkle. Holy smokes, I seriously adore this woman!!!! I know her whole getup is purposefully styled and meant to “impress” in a way, but you can just see the genuine spirit in this woman, the pure love for irreverence, silliness, and fun. I think it’s SO cool that her family takes part in this, and helps to share her sweet funness with the world. (check her Instagram, I was dying all over the place looking at it!!) (Shared by Kristin Tona) ELIZABETH HOLMES She’s the “World’s Youngest Self-Made Female Billionaire”. Yup. “She dropped out of Stanford her sophomore year in 2003 to found Theranos, a company that develops more effective, easier-to-use blood tests. At the age of 31, Holmes was named the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire.” Read more and watch this interview with her from Makers. …